It has been 170 days since Tampa Bay's David Price got pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie to ground into a game-ending fielder's choice at Tropicana Field, saving the Rays' 3-1 victory, and clinching the American League pennant.

The two teams will meet this afternoon at Fenway Park, as the 2009 regular season begins.

Lowrie:

I don't think they've gotten any worse. If anything, they've gotten better. It will be interesting. It might be a preview of what's to come.

The last time the Red Sox began the season at home was 2002: Pedro was shelled and the Blue Jays grabbed a 12-11 win. I remember watching that game (and cursing Ugueth Urbina) at the Riviera in Manhattan (in those dark ages before EI).

The last time the Red Sox began a season with a win at home: 1995. With Aaron Sele on the hill, Luis Alicea leading off, and Kevin Kennedy as manager, Boston blanked the Twins 9-0.

John Smoltz was given Curt Schilling's locker, next to Jason Varitek's. When Smoltz is ready to pitch in a game, he'll go down to A ball, either Greenville or Salem.

It really doesn't matter what organization level it is. I have nothing to gain being down there anyway because the statistical information is not a good gauge for me, it's really about getting my work in.

Stupid f*cking rain. It's really crappy out right now. I feel bad for the people who paid through the nose for tickets and took the day off of work.

Rain, rain go away...

Interesting baseball note: Boston College baseball [you may remember them as an annual Red Sox punching bag in February] came back from a 10-2 6th inning deficit to beat North Carolina State 11-10 yesterday, in what some [read: I] have dubbed the "Palm Sunday Miracle."

Larry: "It's unusual for us to postpone a game when there isn't hard evidence, that is rain or immediate weather present at Fenway Park given the volatility of weather around here, but we have two factors here. There's a consistency among all the weather people, private weather services as well as the six network and media weather services we consult as well, and the probabilities of rain are nearly 100 percent and we're talking about some severe weather with possible thundershowers and heavy gusts..."

Is it bad that I'm trying to reschedule my work call tomorrow so that I can be done in time to get to Thom's anyhow? It was supposed to be a 12-6 call, but clearly that won't do at all... It's just me and one other person though. Wonder how she feels about 9 am. (Probably the same way I do. Not positively.)

I know it's nice to have opening day be at home once in a while but......it seems kind of crazy for TB to be at Boston and Atlanta to be at Phil. last night. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the northern clubs start on the raod for the first couple of series?

I think a couple of northern places like Cleveland and Chicago would be better off starting on the road for the first week or two because of snow, but rain is going to fall whether it's the first week of April or the second or third. And it's the same everywhere.

Tomorrow's actually better for me. Sorry everyone else is disappointed. The sun came out here finally (after six solid weeks of snow, sleet and rain), so I'm going to climb a mountain tomorrow, then settle in for the opener.